JSGerson

The transom timbers became part of the frame for the window openings. Again, the location of the transom windows is based on the Hahn plans. The practicum then instructs you install the transom to the stern before the start of the window construction. Contrary to this, I created window openings while the transom was off the model. I felt I could make cleaner cuts and manipulate the transom easier. In most models of the Rattlesnake there are four windows and a center panel. Mr. Hunt elected not to create the center panel for this model.

Next came the transom timbers which were cut to size. You will notice that the outer timbers are not uniform in width, but taper starting about ½” from the bottom.

The head on image of the transom is not what a draftsman would call a “true view.” The top the transom is angle forward to the viewer and therefore the image is foreshortened. If I were to just cut the image out and paste it on the plywood it wouldn’t be wide enough. So I scanned the image and based on the true width from the side view which looks at the transom on edge, I stretched the full view so that the height had the same dimension as the side view and then printed it. My high school mechanical drawing classes finally came in handy. It doesn’t hurt to have a degree in Civil Engineering either.

Then the hard blocks in the counter had to be slightly modified to conform to the Hahn plans. This got a little confusing and I must have done something wrong somewhere in all this but did not know it at the time. I only realized that things were a bit off when I went to figure where the rudder post came through the deck. I talk about that later. Anyway, at this time I thought everything was hunky-dory and was ready to take on the transom. The practicum requires that I purchase some 1/64” plywood. I didn’t even know they could make plywood that thin and its 3-ply! The practicum has you use the Hahn plan’s image of the transom as a template to cut out the overall shape of the transom from the plywood. It would seem to be a straight forward operation.

You will noticed that I had not finished carving the stern and transom The next thing was to shorten is Part 22.

The kitbash calls for making the deck below the stern quarter deck (nautical term?) visible in contrast to the original kit. After transferring lines from the Hahn’s plan as described in detail in the practicum, I carved out a cavity in the stern using a sanding drum on a Dremel rotary tool.

The Stern Transom Now it starts to get interesting. The practicum allows you to follow the original kit plan or jump off the deep end and start to perform major surgery from which there is no return and you are duly warned. So I took a deep breath and took the plunge. The first thing I had to do was remove the stern bulkhead #12 You can see the squarish U-shape part I cut off to the right

Balsa Filler Blocks In order to facilitate the planking operation Mr. Hunt suggested using balsa wood filler blocks between the bulkheads. This effectively turns the bulkhead frame into a solid hull which eases planking and strengthens the model walls. You will notice there are small gaps between some of the bulkheads and the balsa. I felt tight fit of the balsa to the bulkheads either through custom fitting or wood filler wasn’t really necessary because first, the use of the balsa was optional to begin with, second they are just an aid for shaping the hull, and lastly all open spaces were going to covered by planking. But, based on my vast knowledge of ship building (Ha!), I could be wrong.

False Deck Once more Mr. Hunt cautions the builder to make sure that the bulkheads don’t have any high or low spots where the false deck is to be installed. Again I tried to keep this in mind, but may not have been as successful as I thought as I did have some problems in this area as well later on. The false deck is a bugger to put on due to the curvature of the deck structure and false ribs. It just doesn’t drop on the bulkheads. You have push, twist, bend, and pray it doesn’t snap. If it doesn’t feel right taking it off is as much a pain as it was putting it on. But once on, I glued it tight and didn’t spare the glue. Any excess would only show under the deck where it wouldn’t be seen.

Mr. Hunt cautions the builder to make sure that the bulkheads do NOT exceed the bearding line because it may cause high or low areas in the planking. I tried to keep this in mind, but may not have been as successful as I thought as I did have some of those problems.

Assembling the Bulkheads To ensure that the bulkheads are perpendicular to the bulkhead-keel, I used heavy angle plates and square bar stock (wrapped in plastic to protect it from rust).

Once the bulkhead-keel was glued solid, I transferred the rabbet lines to it using a copy of the Hahn plan as a template The next step is to finally remove the stem, stern post, and keel from the kit supplied bulkhead-keel along the rabbet line. Because the keel and stem were removed, creating the rabbet was fairly easy as there was no resulting “notch” just a narrowing of the plywood. When the new keel, stem and stern post are attached the rabbet notch line will be back.

Building the Framework The plywood Bulkhead-keel comes in two pieces and does not fit cleanly. So after cleaning, sanding, and squaring, the two pieces are glued together with Weldbond wood glue.

After cleaning the edges and test fitting the pieces, looking for gaps, etc. the edges were darkened with artist charcoal to simulate tar chalking. The pieces were then glued together using another uncut copy of the stem as a template. Now the stem looks like what the shipwright would have seen when they completed the stem on the actual ship. As Mr. Hunt points out, if I were to place my new stem on top the kit’s plan they don’t exactly match. Not only that, the kit’s figurehead won’t fit either but that’s OK because I jumped in with both feet on this build which means I will be carving a new figurehead from scratch when the time comes.

CHAPTER 1 A New Stem The very first thing to do was replace the stem. Because the original stem was part of the bulkhead-keel, it will have to be cut off at the rabbet line. Using the reduced Hahn plans, I made another copy of just the stem area using a regular copier on 8½ x 11” paper. Using that copy, I made a template which I rubber cemented to boxwood and cut out using an old Dremel Deluxe Moto-SH jig saw that I bought in the late 70’s for the Zwarte Zee kit I mentioned earlier. It’s not a great saw, but it’s the only jig saw I have. One day I will replace it.

I final finished my first wooden boat, the Mini Mamoli British Schooner Evergreen, a 1:125 Scale Solid Hull Model after a two year build. This was my first attempt at such an endeavor in 30 years. I had started the Billings Boat’s POB Zwarte Zee , an ocean tug back then but got about only about 85% complete. I never finished it. So with a completed build under my belt, I set my sights on the 1781 American Privateer, The Rattlesnake. I considered the Evergreen my “training wheels” for this build. Although technically the Zwarte Zee was my first POB boat, all of the planking flaws were covered up with wood filler and paint. This would be my first true test in this construction method. What you see is what I built for better or worse. This build was started in October 2010 and I have only now decided in May 2013, to post my build log. I was reluctant to do so because compared to the others members who post comments regularly and have submitted their many build logs, I am but a beginner. I have knowing or unknowingly made many errors, omissions, and mistakes. It would be like hanging out my dirty laundry. But after some prodding by some of the members, I agreed to post my build if anything to show the error of my ways to anyone who wants to follow a slooow moving project. I had a choice of the Mamoli or the Model Shipway kit. After a little research I discovered Robert Hunt’s Practicum (http://www.lauckstreetshipyard.com/) and thought this is just perfect for me. Having struggled through the minimal instructions of the Norwegian translation for the Zwarte Zee and the simplistic instructions translated from the Italian for the Evergreen, and after reading the free sample Chapter 1 with its highly detailed instructions and detailed photographs, I was easily convinced to purchase Robert’s practicum. There I found that the practicum was based on the Mamoli kit, so I chose that kit to build. To be fair, Mr. Hunt did state that his practicum could also be used for the Model Shipway kit. The practicum was written to both supplement and enhance the original kit instructions or to kitbash the project. Because the “journey” to me is the purpose of building a model, rather than the destination, the final model, I chose to build the kitbash and plunked down my money: · Basic kit - ~$240 · Robert Hunt’s Practicum (http://www.lauckstreetshipyard.com/) - $150 · Harold Hahn’s plans ¼” scale - $45 · Reduce the Hahn plans 74% to match the kit’s 3/16” scale (1:64) - ~$25 · Hobbymill Wood Package (http://www.hobbymillusa.com/) - $210 This not a cheap build/modification. This does not include the tools that I accumulated and still am accumulating for this project. Hell, it’s a hobby, so it’s OK, that and the fact that I just retired and am a bachelor. A kitbash goes beyond what the basic kit instructs to make the model more interesting, challenging, and pleasing. In this case Mr. Hunt’s practicum is based on the model Harold Hahn, a master model builder, built using plans he created based directly from the original British Admiralty drawings. Although this is an American ship, it was captured by the British and it is from them we can thank for having the historical drawings and the name Rattlesnake. In this model Mr. Hahn used direct woods to create the colors of the ship. Therefore in keeping true the Hahn model, the practicum substitutes the basic kit wood with a wood package purchased separately from Hobbymill (http://www.hobbymillusa.com/); and has you purchase the Harold Hahn copyrighted plans which Robert is basing his kitbashing modifications. Since Mr. Hahn built his model in ¼” scale, the plans have to reduce to match the kit scale of 3/16” (1:64). Your ordinary office copy won’t do the trick due to the size of the sheets. You need a large copier and one that can do reductions, specifically 74%, the kind found at a large stationary store, graphics, or engineering firm.

Not only do you do very nice work, you take wonderful pictures. What kind of camera are you using? Do you use a macro lens?

OK, OK, I'll post'em. It may take a while, I'm going visiting for a while at the end of the week and need to put my house in decent shape (read cleaning), I'n an old bachelor so my incentive for these things needs a push. My Sister is coming to join me in my travels and I've people coming to take care of the cat so putting the house in "shipshape" come first. When I get back, I'll start the posting of my version of the Bob Hunt kit bash of the Mamoli Rattlesnake.

I've been working on the Rattlesnake for almost 3 years, a couple of hours a week so I was moving real slow. I'm now unemployed, oops retired (depending on whom I'm talking to) so the pace has picked in the last few months. I have been taking pictures from the beginning but have been somewhat reluctant (more like intimidated) to post them due to the skill level of the other modelers. They have set a pretty high bar to match. I know I've made mistakes, some of which would be quite obvious to the skilled artisans at MSW. Yeah, I'll probably post them, just need to get a little courage. 8-)

I am just watching in fascination as you construct your model. I have a large format picture of the trailboard that shows some of the detail of those "three metal loops" I don't know if you have this image so here it is.

Display Box I built the display box from scratch. A slab of wood, some trim pieces, some Plexiglas properly sized and cut at Home depot and voilà, a display box!

The result is what you see. It is most likely full of mistakes and omissions, but visually it works for me.

Final Touch The final touch was adding the name to the stern of the boat. To do that I created a decal from decal paper and a spray you apply to the ink-jet printed decal. It was just a matter of applying it to the boat

I made the ratlines using a rig I bought from Model Expo. How useful it was I still not sure. I had to put a paper backing on so I could see the black thread on the black frame.

You may have also noticed the line from the anchor that goes over the capstan. I have no idea if this is the way it’s supposed to be done. The capstan is nothing but a winch and I assume the line goes below deck somehow. I just gave it my best shot.